My second guess is that when we had fourth and two late inside the 50 I think I would have lined up to go for it and tried to draw them offsides. By the way, when we got called for offsides when they were backed up to their goal line and punting, did the announcers note that their blocking back deliberately flinched to draw us offsides? That would have been a BIG deal, since they would then have punted from their own 3 1/2 rather than getting a cheap 5 yds.

What a great season. I believe the team achieved beyond everyone's expectations. Hate that it's over. Future is very bright. With that being said, let's get the elephant out of the room. I truly believe we will never win a NC with WL as OC. With everything on the line, we only throw 3 passes. Our only "trick" play was the double reverse pass which we have run now about six times in the last four weeks. That's a once a season play. We have no imagination on offense. None. I realize the big Swede was out and maybe that hurt us but 20 dives to no avail? Just gut wrenching. Tough to watch. I think this may have been coach Ayers' best coaching season ever. But IMO, his best friend, WL, is his albatross that will keep him from grasping that brass ring. I'm sure the moderators will probably delete this post but I'm sorry it is just soo frustrating. It must be said. When all the chips are on the line we have come up short IMO not because of players but the plays that are called. Not giving it to EB in Fargo and then that debacle late in the game today. Will still always be a Terrier but as long as WL is the OC I will have a hard time believing we can go all the way. He will never change.

WL didn't make the bad snap and missed the first PAT that would have won it in regulation. WL didn't miss reads or make/fumble the pitch on 4th down. WL didn't 'miss blocks or tackles. I get frustrated with our play selection at times too but we were an eyelash away from being 12-1. I think we can all say most us never expected us to achieve what we did this season.Let's get some more really really good football players to come play for us and see what we can do next year.While it was a game we SHOULD have won for many reasons not just our OC, it was a fantastic season. One of the best we have ever had. Very proud of our coaches and players. Proud of our little school which continues to surprise and exceed expectations. We came up a little short yesterday but we will be back to fight again.

Ruckus wrote:WL didn't make the bad snap and missed the first PAT that would have won it in regulation. WL didn't miss reads or make/fumble the pitch on 4th down. WL didn't 'miss blocks or tackles. I get frustrated with our play selection at times too but we were an eyelash away from being 12-1. I think we can all say most us never expected us to achieve what we did this season.Let's get some more really really good football players to come play for us and see what we can do next year.While it was a game we SHOULD have won for many reasons not just our OC, it was a fantastic season. One of the best we have ever had. Very proud of our coaches and players. Proud of our little school which continues to surprise and exceed expectations. We came up a little short yesterday but we will be back to fight again.

+1.

I expected us to be very good this year, but then I thought we would have a winning season last year (and we should have). Expect us to be very good next year too, but we will have some gaps to address.

Certainly should have completed a pass or two. It is amazing we came so close without completing one.

Give the YSU RB some credit; he played a great game. YSU D played very well too. We have played worse and won. Still, it is true there were several times when a yard here and there made all the difference; not our O coordinator's "fault".

Wofford will finish in the Top 10 in the final poll of the season. Should be the favorite to win the socon next season and a preseason top 10 Team. So much to reflect on and celebrate about this season and how we played all season long. 3 losses in FCS. 1 in Double OT in the wuarterfinals of the playoffs. On the road. Freezing conditions with multiple chances to win. One in OT to an undefeated #6 ranked rival who we wound up drilling in the playoffs. And one to a ranked Samford team in a game we played pretty poorly but were a phantom pass interference call away from a win. Lost by 2.

We will lose some seniors. Some true warriors. But we return so much from a very dynamic team. One that should be remembered around these parts for many many years to come.

Think of things like this. There's a new barometer set. A new standard set for what we expect. And our young freshmen and sophomores saw that example this season. So their expectations are this season and beyond. Next season is the year I think Wofford fans should expect to see a special special season.

Kudos to the kids who do it on the field and cut no corners and do it off the field the right way as well.

I'll never forget this group of kids. This team. GALVANIZED by adversity. And achieved so much.

Football is a game of inches. A lot of times it is really really hard to appreciate a team when they don't win a championship, national or otherwise. Football is different from other sports (with the exception of maybe soccer? I don't watch soccer so I have no idea how this comparison goes): Unlike baseball or basketball where the aggregate strength of a team is stretched out over the course of a season, in football during the regular season you have only 12 opportunities. The game is more controlled than basketball or baseball or any other sport. Turnovers can have a bigger effect on a game (and thus, season) outcome. If you look at any team in the playoff (FCS or FBS) there are lots that were a couple plays from not being there and a couple that were a couple plays from competing. In our case, we broke both ways this year.

It takes a special, and lucky team to win a national title. It's said that you recruit and coach your luck, and to some extent that is true, and that's why programs such as NDSU are very very special. But the overwhelming majority of teams in college football will not win or come close to winning a national title for the vast majority of their program's history.

In aggregate, we were a very solid team that clearly improved toward the end. I'm proud of these guys and I don't have a bad taste in my mouth after that loss. This team defied my expectations. We were clearly flawed on offense this year, and I sort of felt that way at halftime yesterday. I knew we were a good team, but I felt there were too many red flags to say we could be national champs. Having said that, over the course of the second half, this team defied expectations again and gave me reason to believe I was wrong. To me, that's what made this team more special than others. In prior years, we made the playoffs and performed as well as you would expect but we never made those 2 or 3 plays that changed the course of the game and think "maybe I'm wrong"

Knowing all of this (or at least having this philosophical outlook), I can't be disappointed with the team.

As for Wade Lang and the offense, I have something of a nuanced opinion. I think our playcalling at times yesterday was not great, but at other times it was solid. At times it was hard to tell if it was the playcalling or the execution. I think Joe Newman is the guy moving forward. Goodson has definitely earned some solid playing time, and for those of you who remember the UGA teams under Mark Richt I think we need a David Greene/DJ Shockley dynamic to our offense (namely, we have a starting QB who we know who the guy is, but every 3rd possession or so, we put in the second string guy in because he's that good).

Having said that, and y'all can crucify me for this, I don't really think the triple option is a national title winning offense anymore. It's certainly an offense that can and does win conference titles, but by the vary nature of the playoffs the deeper you go the better the teams are. It's true that GSU won 6 national titles with the TO, but back then playbooks were much more conservative, not utilizing angles or misdirection as they do today with all of the spread formations. Now it's so common and it doesn't stick out, and unlike those spread formations, it lacks a true big play ability.

The fact is, the option is more reliant on luck than any other offense. By luck, I don't mean caprice, I mean low probabilities. It's more dependent on reads and has a higher probability of turnovers, while it has a lower big-play probability as well. That's why it looks so great when it's working well, but it is really ugly when it's no working. The nature of the offense has it to where game management is really important and so play-calling gets scrutinized more than other elements of the game, and to some degree it isn't fair to the coaches. When they call a risky play or a "basic" play and it works, they catch praise, but if it isn't executed, they catch more flak than other coaches.

if you don't believe me, why have teams like Alabama been more consistent in the national spotlight than, say, Oregon or Baylor? Ohio State and Florida under Urban Meyer may be the only exception but even then their offense is more power-oriented than spread or option oriented. Wofford falls under this distinction as well, and I could be wrong (as I have been consistently over the course of this season), but I think there's an empirical reason why option teams aren't as successful as they used to be, even 10 years ago, and why in general most national title teams don't run spread or option playbooks.

So, I get annoyed with some WL play-calls, yes, and sometimes it feels like the players win the game in spite of coaching. At the end of the day, when I more soberly reflect, we're easily more in a position to win the game because of the coaches as we are to lose it.

Now again, I don't know if we'll ever be in a position to compete for a national title with an option offense. I could be proven wrong. But we'll always be fun to watch because of the players and coaches' efforts and that's why I'll continue to watch. This year was different from years past because the team finally gave us a reason to hope. That's what's been unbearable in the last 2 years or so...by the end of the season, you just knew we weren't good enough and the team met those expectations.

Boulder - long trip. Just got home. Frigid is best way to describe it. Think coldest you have ever been down here with wind blowing about 15 mph and spitting snow.YSU fans were friendly to neutral. We did not encounter a single jerk. Pretty much left us alone which was fine. Encountered some nice folks at dinner Friday night. The YSU faithful like to drink pretty heavily and believe it or not a good amount of tailgating in that weather.We stayed in Boardman near team which is a suburb of Y'town. Lots of restaurants and strip malls/shops. About 15 mins from stadium.YSU is a BIG school. About 15,000 students. Nice facilities intermixed into downtown Y'town. Y'town itself looked pretty depressed economically. Rust belt economy. Heard there were some real bad areas but we never encountered them.YSU fans knew virtually nothing about us or our story other than what the hometown paper ran. They fully believe they play in the best conference in the country so there was no way they could lose. I think they were shocked by our ability, better yet, audacity to not try to pass the ball. We earned some respect but the outcome was what they expected.2 completely different cultures in terms of schools, geographic areas, etc.

I enjoyed seeing Crabby, Ruckus, and LG at the Wofford shindig. YT and I stayed at the Courtyard. The Southland ref crew was there too. I was the coldest I have ever been watching a game. The closest I can compare to misery was the Mud Bowl against Furman. However, as miserable as I was, it was a great game to watch in person.

Ruck is right. We could have won. Maybe we do overthink the short game at crucial times.

"There are things that you value and things that you will fight for. That is what today's all about. We fight for that short-haired dog and that name across your chest." Mike Ayers

I had a good feeling about OT until we got close to the goal-line. Chatty stopped us, CSU stopped us, and several others stopped us at the 1 yard line this year. It's been a problem the last half of the season. I don't know how to fix it, but until we do, the fullback dive up the middle should be avoided.

Nevertheless, we had chances to win.

This team has an awful lot of freshmen and sophomores playing roles, but seniors like Lorenzo Long, the Big Swede, Will Gay, Lincoln Stewart and Jaleel Green will be hard to replace.

Our two deep at QB will be Joe Newman and Brandon Goodson but we need to recruit 2 new QB's this year to be the next men up.

After calming down for a day or so, here is my take on that thing in Ohio. WOF ran the ball about 59 times in the game, 21 (nearly 40%) fullback dive plays for (get this) 43yds. Folks, if the hole is too deep, quit digging! We're all proud as punch for this team, and what they've accomplished this season. But, every fan on earth knows WOF is limiting its self on offense. We have speed that is not utilized, we have receivers that are not utilized, we have QBs whose abilities are not utilized, not to mention an unbalanced game plan. It pained me mightily to watch how poorly the overtime was handled in that game.......we should have won that thing.......we should have won!!!

Thanks for the rundown from the game. We definitely gained respect, but as Ruckus said, the result was what they expected. One question for you guys; what about Butler? Isn't he a red shirt Jr? He really did a good job of running the offense when he played. Over the course of the season we saw some really good catches from the receivers and running backs. Who is our best passing QB?